Parallel Morphological and Kinematic Diversification of Riverine South American Pike Cichlids in Response to Feeding Ecology

Two Crenicichla species flocks in the Uruguay and Parana River basins rapidly diversified into the same set of ecomorphs that reflect feeding ecology. This evolutionary process involves expansion of functional morphology, resulting in unique phenotypes in terms of jaw shape, size, and protrusion. We assess the parallel adaptive radiation by generating a population-level phylogenomic hypothesis for the group and estimating the evolutionary history of functional morphology and feeding kinematics.